An emergency disconnection technology enabling safe and intelligent access to sustainable deepwater subsea oil and gas assets

随着资产越来越多地位于复杂的深水/超深水，水下油气的优化开采将支撑到2060年向大部分可再生能源平衡的平稳过渡，在15kpsi的系统压力下作业对于可持续的开采效率和井的完整性至关重要。然而，以商业/风险可接受的方式开采这些资产的挑战尚未得到满足，这限制了整个生命周期内重要的海底作业，而这些作业只占所需作业的5%以下。因此，使用小型动态定位船和灵活的开放水域管线，从海底管束/采油树中智能获取深水资产的新型无钻机/无隔水管方法可以实现转型，但依赖于故障安全紧急快速断开（EQD）技术，以防止在动态定位故障/漂移的情况下损坏管线、船舶或井的完整性。然而，该技术在15kpsi下并不存在，这使得这些深/超深水作业的风险太高。作为回应，Secc正在开发改变游戏规则的机械压力平衡排气架构，以实现故障安全EQD的可重新连接薄弱环节。第一代设备已通过第三方验证，可用于10kpsi的操作，在这些概念的基础上，Secc现在的目标是实现15kpsi eqd连接器所需的技术变革。研发重点是对保压结构、密封几何形状和驱动进行基本的重新设计/开发，以支持新的行业标准。

Optimised extraction of subsea oil/gas underpins a smooth transition to a largely-renewable energy balance by 2060, with assets increasingly located in complex deepwater/ultra-deepwater, for which operation at 15kpsi system pressures is becoming essential for sustainable extraction efficiency and well integrity.However, the challenge of accessing these assets in a commercially/risk-acceptable way is unmet, restricting vital subsea-operations over the full-lifecycle to less than 5% of those required. New rigless/riserless methods to intelligently access deep-water assets from subsea-manifolds/trees, using small dynamically-positioned vessels and flexible open-water downlines, can therefore be transformational, but rely on failsafe Emergency-Quick-Disconnection (EQD) technology to prevent damage to the downline, vessel or well-integrity in the event of dynamic-positioning-failure/drift-off. However, this technology does not exist at 15kpsi, rendering these operations in deep/ultra-deepwater too high-risk.In response, Secc are developing game-changing mechanically pressure-balanced venting architectures, to realise reconnectable weak-links for failsafe EQD. First-generation devices have been 3rd-party-validated for 10kpsi operations, and building on these concepts, Secc now targets the technological step-change required to realise a 15kpsi EQD-connector. R&D focusses on a fundamental redesign/development of the pressure-retaining architecture, seal geometry and actuation, supporting new industry standards.